Steinberg UR44c works great for me.

I went with antelope when I had this same thinking back three years ago. I got myself an orion synergy, and it's just amazing. the converters are pristine, you have lots of flexibility with its software and the plugins are pretty good as well, a bit less intuative than ua dsp plugins but still great. if you dont care about the dsp, then their discrete range is amazing; it has the same converters and same software, only with less dsp chips.

if you really want to spend on something top notch, neumann just released a interface with collaboration with merging audios, and that just ticks all the boxes; from what it offers it made me slightly regret buying an orion (mostly because its much smaller, sleeker and looks easier to use).

lastly, can't go wrong with the new apogee top range interfaces. their symphony range has been and is used all over the world in the top studios, and for a good reason. They are the most expensive from the options I've given however, and for most applications I would still go with the options above.

As Frank mentioned above, UR44c is also an amazing (slightly budget) interface that can also be bought with rupert neve's custom transformers, which I think is the selling point of this interface for the price.

Hope you make a good choice!

There's this really underground interface company called focusrite and they have a scarlett series that is super high quality!

Thanks for all the Answers so far. Currently using an Audiont ID 22 and looking forward to upgrate in a couple of month and really spend some money on there. The Apogee is catching my eye and the new Neumann as well. But I don't want to overlook something that maybe is not such a big brand, because name don't neccessary means quality.

all of these are big names, maybe not in the producer field but in the more professional sphere.

Merging audios (neumann interface collaboration) have been making pro audio gear and software for ages, any respectable mastering facility will use pyramix (Mergin audios DAW) for their masters. their hardware is made in switzerland, and looks super robust.

Apogee is american made, made by the wife or a respected audio engineer Bob Clearmount (please don't attack me for undermining her achievements, she is a great engineer and has been in audio business for years as well, but I know her more from watching bob clearmount work).

lastly antelope seems to be really competing with UA, having some fancy high quality products and more affordable options. They're digital clocks are also an essential part of a lot of mastering and mixing facilities worldwide, and their ad/da converters are amazing. I have read around that some people use their ad/da as well, most commonly their now discontinued goliath systems.

If you want to make a confident chocie I would suggest using something like equipboard and researching some mixing and mastering engineers from your favourite songs and see what they've been using in the recent years. I don't think there are any small names here as all of these electronics have gathered a reputation and for a good cause, us audio engineers need something of the best quality and reliable!

there are most likely others as well, however these are definetaly what I would suggest and if you're willing to shell out for them, I can assure you, you will be happy with the choice made!

Antelope and those pro tools hd

Antelope has been more problematic than the rest. The cheapest way I know to get awesome sound for your money is get a used Apollo from the X series & pay another 1500 to Black Lion Audio for their mod for the Apollo. That way you get access to the best plugins but you have an Apollo that's up there with the best of them. If that turns out to not be enough you can drop 10,000.00 on the best digitizers in the biz with Prizm Sound. The 8XR's are considered the best of the best in the biz but now they have an ADA-128 that's around 17000,00 with a new digitizing chip - but even the wholesale rep had yet hear it. They are supposed to contact me now that the product was released at the NAMM show - but given that I may be your competition (if you're doing mastering) or plan to - you may want to look into them.

quick question,
but not so quick ansvers 😀

PS. I posted earlier about how to upgrade from the Apollo. However I just used the Apollo 6X that's still factory - no Black Lion Mod - to get to diamond ears in less than 90 days - which I just achieved a couple hours ago. For my money there still isn't a better offer anywhere & I recently attempted to upgrade to something better. I finally decided that I would never be able to get so many quality plugins for outboard gear that would cost a fortune to buy & a small fortune to maintain over time.

My next move will either be the Black Lion Mod but I'm thinking it's better just to get the 8XR digitizers - or the NEW 128 they released at the NAMM show a couple weeks ago. (When I asked the wholesale rep for Prizm he could not tell me if there was a noticeable difference in digitizing quality or if it was mostly features). He was dubious as to whether anyone could hear a noticeable difference but he'd not heard it yet. He was going to tell me about how much better it sounds after the NAMM show - I should hear from him after he processes all the hot leads he got at NAMM.

I did a TON of research to make sure the Apollo was the best way to go. One of the reasons you may not be fan of Apollo may be bad information. I've been in this biz for over 50 years. For example I notice a lot of people say that Apollo digitizers are not of a quality for mastering. That was true until the ApolloX series. I owned the Blackface for a year before the X series came out. 80 percent of the Apollo's out there are NOT the X series. The moment the X series was shipping I contacted my Rep to see if he had heard it. He said the difference was very noticeable. I took him at his word & bought the ApolloX - thinking I might keep the Blackface. As soon as I heard the X I knew I'd never be satisfied with any previous version. Caleb told me that he also bought the X series because it was the first version that had mastering-quality digitizers.

There are other stories like the X series having better clocks & more stable power - which also contributes to high quality sound. Apollo's only real weakness is routing but for 100 bucks you can buy a top notching routing plugin that solves all the routing issues. Obviously you may have entirely different reasons for disliking it - but keep in mind it's the most widely sold gear in the US for professionals - which means a lot more people will also be complaining about it - not only because of the pre-X-series Apollo's but because of the sheer number of owners - which means WIDE support for it - but also WIDE complaining from non-pro's & pro-victims who complain more than they create. Hope that helps. Otherwise Apogee, Lynx, or Prizm.

I don't recommend Scarlett/Focusrite, they are so cheap !
Preamp are dying very soon I use them 2-3 years and ... ☠
This thing happens to my friends too and you can see it on internet.

I use now SSL2 and it's (really) better and stronger.
Don't know if it's better than yours but I'm satisfied 👌

I totally agree with Alexandra, Focusrite are great for your wallet, but when you compare with higher quality interfaces, it's night and day. I own a 2i2, an Apollo Silver and an Apollo quad. The quad sounds the best all the way, preamps and headphones amp especially.
Do the test, take your reference mix playlist, listen through high quality headphones and switch interfaces (if you can try them before buying), you'll be blown away.
Right now I'm looking to upgrade with RME, it sounds pristine clean to me.
Anything Apogee or Antelope is great too, and UAD is still a good option

Me gustaría que me apoyaran con información, lo que realizo en estos momentos es grabar, mezclar y masterizar. Ahora quiero mejorar la calidad del trabajo que realizo, he investigado pero aun no me he decidido:

Estoy por adquirir una interfase y estoy entre:
1.- Rme Fireface UCX II
2.- Apollo Twin Duo,
3.- Antelope discrete 4

Saludos, muy agradecido por sus opiniones.

@Alexandra - I could not agree more. SSL rocks.

@Byron Saldaña RME all the way

audient ID series are also great a pro told me how glad he was with the ID44